Counter actuating mechanism for



April 20, 1954 KEEN ETAL' 2,675,963

COUNTER ACTUATING MECHANISM FOR TICKET PRINTERS Original Filed Feb. 2. 1948 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS THOMAS A, KEEN BgR/YEST M- WH/TLEY ATTORNEY April 20, 1954 T. A. l (EEN ETAL COUNTER ACTUATING MECHANISM FOR TICKET PRINTERS 4 Sheets-Shet 2 Original Filed Feb. 2. 1948 April 20, 1954 T. A. KEEN EI'AL CQUNTER ACTUATING MECHANISM FOR TICKET PRINTERS Original Filed Feb. 2. 1948 IIIIIIIII r 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 unwmmmw INVENTORS KEEN THOMAS ATTORN r INVENTORS 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 THOMAS A KEEN mmx 'YERNEST M. WH/TLEY T. A. KEEN ETI'AL COUNTER ACTUATING MECHANISM FOR TICKET PRINTERS April 20, 1954 OriginaI Filed Feb. 2. 1948 ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 20, 1954 COUNTER ACTUATIN G MECHANISM FOR TICKET PRINTERS- Thomas A. Keen, Belmont, and Ernest M. Whitley, San Carlos, Calif.

Original application February 2, 1948, Serial No. 5,874. Divided and this application August 20,

1951, Serial No. 242,676 Y 2 Claims. (Cl..23591) This invention relates to ticket printers of the kind employed in connection with the sale of tickets under the pari mrtuel system of wagering on races and this application is a division of our co-pending application entitled Ticket Printer, filed February 2, 1948, Serial No. 5,874, now abancloned.

Conventional ticket printing machines used in connection with the pari mutuel system comprise a bank of numbered keys each number representing an entry in a race. The function of the machine is to print a ticket bearing the number of a selected key on a ticket strip, then to advance, shear and eject the ticket as well as to produce a visible registration of the number 'of tickets sold for each entry and the total number of tickets issued.

According to conventional practice each ticket is printed to display the number of a race upon which the wager was placed, the date, a code number or symbol and the entry number determined by the key depressed. Such machines include means for changing the date, race number and code symbol printed, but the present invention is not concerned with such mechanism and the following description will be confined to the means controlled by depression of a numbered key to establish a setting of the entry number to be printed upon the ticket and particularly to set the mechanism which upon operation of the machine will efiect actuation of a counter corresponding to the depressed key as well as of a total counter and related mechanism.

An object of the present invention is to provide a machine capable of performing all of the required functions of ticket printers of this kind through a relatively simple set of mechanisms. A further object of the invention is to provide a ticket printer having keys acting mechanically upon being depressed to establish conditions in the machine requisite to its printing'a ticket of a selected number and actuating a corresponding counter. Still further and more specific objects and advantages of the invention are made apparent in the following specification wherein the invention is described in detail by reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a machine embodying the present invention with the top portion re-- moved and with portions broken away and illustrated in section;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line II-II of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line Fig. 5 is a section taken on the line V-V of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is an elevation of the mechanism shown in Fig. 4 as viewed from the plane VIVI; and Fig. '7 is a front elevation with forward part of the machine being removed and parts broken away to illustrate various parts of the mechanism.

The machine herein illustrated is supported by a base plate In and enclosed by a housing 1 I with a hinged cover l2 adapted to be secured in closed position as by a key-actuated lock indicated at I3. The principal parts of the ticket printing, shearing and ejecting mechanism are supported between parallel spaced vertical plates M in the main portion of the housing. A ticket strip [5 is fed upwardly through a slot IS in the bottom of the housing and between the advance it through a slot 25 formed to open through the cover of the housing.

A motor 26, as shown in Fig. 1, acts through reduction gearing contained in a housing 21 to drive the driving member 28 of a single cycle clutch through suitable gears 29 and 30.

The clutch, which is of a conventional type, is held in disengagement by an armature 3| of a solenoid 32. This armature intercepts a finger 33 which projects from the driven part of the clutch and upon energization of the solenoid 32 the arma- @ture is retracted momentarily to permit the clutch-driven part to rotate through a single complete cycle. This rotation is imparted to a main shaft 34 which; as illustrated in Fig. 2, extends through the space between the supporting plates l4 and carries between said plates a cam 35. The extended end of the shaft 34 carries, asillustrated in Fig. 3, a large ticket-feed cam 36 as well as means presently to be described for actuating counter mechanism.

In operation of the parts thus far described, the motor is rotating continuously and upon closing of a circuit to the solenoid 32 the driven part of the clutch imparts a single complete rotation to the main shaft 34. The cam 35 on this shaft first engages a lever 40 pivotally supported on a shaft 4| and having a, finger 42 carrying adjusting screws 43 for engagement with a printing platen 44.- The platen 44 is mounted for sliding movement in a guide 45 and is normally held in a 3 retracted position by a spring 45. Upon downward swinging of the lever 4|] under influence of the cam 35 the platen is raised against the tension of the spring 46 and presses the ticket strip |5 against the type faces on the ticket-printing head 2| to imprint on the ticket the characters represented by the registering type faces. As the main shaft 34 continues to rotate, the ticketfeed cam 36 (Fig. 3) on its outer end engages a roller 41 on a slide bar 48. At one end this bar is slotted to embrace the main shaft 34, thus to be supported thereby and to. be free for sliding action thereon. At its opposite. end, the slide. bar carries a rack 49 normally retracted by a spring 49a and resting on a guide roller 5|) arranged to retain it in meshing engagement with a gear 51. Th gear 5| is formed as a part of disc 52 and the gear anddisc are freely rotatable on the end of a shaft 53 which carries the ticket advancing;

roller Asbest shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6, move ment of the rack 49 toward the left as viewed irrFigs. 3 and 6 will rotate the gear 5| and disc 52in a clockwise direction. During this rotation, a pawl 54 secured as by a pin 55 to the disc 52 engages the notched periphery of a ratchet disc 56- keyed to the shaft 53 to drive the shaft and to impart rotation to the ticket advancing roller H, a. distance corresponding to the length of one ticket. A pawl 51, pivoted as by a pin 58 to the stationary plate |4, also engages the periphery of the ratchet disc 56 to prevent reverse rotation thereof when the rack bar 49 is retracted under influence of the spring 49:. Both pawls 54 and 5'! are biased toward the ratchet disc 56 as by springs illustrated at 59. As theticket strip is advanced beneath the ticket-printer head a distance corresponding to the length of one ticket the upper end-of the ticket strip, just having been printed upon, is advanced beyond the shearing blade 22 and into contact with the ejecting roller 24. During the final part of the rotary movement of the main shaft 34 the cam 35 thereon engages a lever 60 also pivoted on the shaft 4| and carrying adjusting screws 6| engageable with the lower end of the shear blade 22. A spring 63 normally tends to retract this blade. The action of the lever 60 under influence of the cam 35 advances the shear blade 22 upwardly-to-coopera-te with th stationary blade 23 in shearing the ticket strip. A

spring 64 forms a connection between the levers 40' and 69 to insure that they remain in. close contact with the cam 35.

The ejecting roller 24, which is preferably of rubber or other resilient material, is driven continuously during the operation of the main shaft through a train of gears shown at 61 in Fig. 1 as connecting with a shaft 68 upon which theejector roller is mounted. A flat spring 69 is preferably employed for holding the ticket in contact with the ejecting roller and may have an anti-friction roller H3 normally engaging the surface of the ejector roller if desired. The ticket-printing head 2| comprises a plurality of multi-faced type discs rotatably mounted on a common shaft 15 supported between the plates M as by clamping members 16. As previously stated, these type discs are arranged for printing race number, date, code numbers and the number of the entry represented by the printed ticket. The present invention is concerned particularly with the entry disc, which is that indicated at 11 at the left hand side in Fig. 1. This disc 11 carries a gearlll by means of which it may be rotated or held in any set printing position. acters on the periphery of the disc 11 are the The type charupper ends appropriately numbered as indicated.

4 numerals 1 to 12, inclusive and a T--representing test used only when a ticket is printed during a test operation of the machine. The type disc if is rotated to effect positioning; of. any desired type character in printing position by a rack 19 held in mesh with the gear 18 by an idler roller disposed on one of the supporting plates M. This rack is adjustably connected with a link 8| by means of screws 82 and the link 8| is pivotally connected asby a pin 83 with a post 84. The post 84' is carried by and extends upwardly from a slotted plate 85, and this plate is secured to a shaft 86 rotatably disposed between spaced vertical supporting plates 81 between which the key control mechanism of the machine is also disposed.

The slotted plate is normally held in a raised position as by a spring 89. Disposed between the side plates' 81 are a plurality, in thiscase N3, of key stems 90 extending all of the. way through the housing and having tabs 5| at their in Figure 1 from 1 to 12, inclusive, the 13th key stem bearing the character T. Each of. the key stems 90 is normally urged upwardly as, by

a spring 92 interposed between a pin 93 on. the.

stem and the bottom of the housing. When any one of the stems is depressed it is held in its depressed position by abar 94 secured to shaft 95 pivotally supported. between the'side plates. 81-

and urged to swing upwardly as by a spring 98. Upon depression of any key against the tension of its spring 92 it will be latched in its depressed position by the engagement of a lug 91 projecting from a flattened side of the key stem andengageable beneath the bar 94.

itself engaged in depressed position so that one key and only one key will occupy the depressed position. The depressed key establishes the setting of the numeral to be printed by the entry disc H on the printing head when the machine. is operated and also determines which of a plur-- ality of counters will register the subsequent oper- In order to establish. the

notches H19 in this plate. Consequently upon.

depression of any key the plate is swung downwardly and the distance that the plate is swungdownwardly depends upon the key depressed, so that if number 1 key is depressed the plate will be swung a distance sufficient to cause the rack.

19, Fig. 2, to rotate the entry disc untilthe number 1 type character thereon registers in the. printing position. As the number 2. key and number 3 key swing the plate 85 downwardly correspondingly greater distances, the number 2. or 3 type character on the entry disc'il may. likewise be brought into printing. registry, and soon:

through key number 12. The 13th key marked T serves to bring the character T intoprinting registry.

A plurality of mechanical counters |0| are supported in a plate H12 which extends between:

the side plates 81, there being one such counter for each of the keys on the machine. Sight openings 03 are provided in the top of the hous ing above the counters to enable the reading. of;

the numbers displayed thereby. Each of the counters I0! is provided with an actuating lever;

Any subsequently depressed key will, of course, swing the bar 94- downwardly to release the first key before. it. is.

I 04 (Fig. 4) adapted to advance the counter upon being swung upwardly. Plungers I05 are loosely supported in the plate I02 for vertical reciprocation and are supported against downward sliding movement by adjustable collars I06. Beneath the plate I02 a frame I01 is supported on a shaft I08 pivotally mounted between plates 81. Frame I01 carries the channel member I00, and pins I I are slidably mounted through perforations in said channel. Pins IIO are, as best shown in Fig. 1, each bent to a U-shape with one leg shorter than the other so that the short leg passes through only one flange of the channel I09, thus preventing rotation of the pins and presenting a right angular portion aligned with one of the key stems 90. A spring III serves to retain each of the pins H0 in a retracted position. Upon depression of any one of the keys a wedge II2 (see also Fig. 2) on the key stem engages the right angular part of the pin H0 and advances the pin forwardly until its forward end projects to a position beneath the plunger I05, in which position the plunger will be urged upwardly and the corresponding counter IOI will be actuated when the frame I01 is swung upwardly. The frame I01 is swung upwardly once for each ticket issued by the machine by a lever I I4, shown in Fig. 3, fixed against rotation to a projecting end of the shaft I08 which supports the frame I01 and connected as by a link I I5 with an eccentric pin I I5 carried on the end of the main shaft 34 of the ticket printing mechanism.

Zeroizing levers I I8 are also provided on the counters IN and may, as shown in Figs. 2 and '7, carry pins II9 received in slots of a slidable bar I20, which extends transversely of the machine. A suitable opening (not shown) may be provided in the side wall of the machine so that a key or instrument may be inserted therethrough and engaged with an end of the bar I to slide it in a transverse direction and actuate all of the zeroizing levers simultaneously for the purpose of setting all of the counters to their zero position.

The pins I I0, which actuate the counters corresponding to keys 1 to 12, inclusive, are identical in construction, but the corresponding pin for the test key has, as illustrated in Fig. l, a plate I24 secured to its forward end having a perforation I25 therein. Ordinarily perforation I25 is out of alignment with the bottom of the plunger I05 corresponding to the counter actuated by this pin. This is a total counter and serves to register tickets issued for all the keys 1 to 12 inclusive. Therefore, when the machine is operated to issue a ticket, not only will the counter corresponding to the number of the ticket issued be actuated, but the total counter will also be actuated by the upward movement of the plate I24. It is desired in some cases to test the operation of the machine before tickets are sold, and this is accomplished by depressing the T key. In this event the wedge I I2 on the T key stem 90 will advance the pin IIO with the plate I24 on its forward end to a position where the hole I25 therein will register with the bottom end of the plunger I05. Consequently the ticket issued will bear a character T rather than a number and none of the counters will have been actuated.

When any one of the key stems 90 is depressed, its lower end projects downwardly through the bottom of the machine and may be employed to close a switch I28, shown in Fig. 2 as supported by a bar I29 carried by posts I30 extending downwardly from the bottom plate of the machine. Closing of this witch may be employed in connection with the sending of electrical impulses to totalizing machinery which is generally associated with a plurality of ticketprinting machines but does not form a part of the present invention.

Depression of a selected key for issuing a ticket with the number corresponding to the key selected, as herein described, serves to set the entry disc on the printing head to the proper position and serves also to select or establish the counter that will be actuated upon issuance of the ticket. The actual operation of the machine to issue a ticket is, however, initiated by closing of a switch I32, also supported by the bar I29 beneath the machine. The switch I32, which completes a circuit to the solenoid 32 for initiating a single cycle operation of the machine, is adapted to be closed by a plunger I33. This plunger extends upwardly through the machine and is connected at its upper end with an actuating bar I34, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3. A spring I35 normally retains the post and actuating bar in a raised position and the bar I34 is pivoted as by a screw I36 to a bracket I31. A resilient bumper I38 limits the downward movement of the actuating bar but permits it to be moved downwardly a distance sufiicient to cause closing of the switch I32 by the lower end of the plunger I33.

We claim:

1. In a ticket printing machine comprising a plurality of depressible keys for selecting type characters to be printed, counters for registering the number of tickets printed for each key and means for selectively actuating said counters comprising, a reciprocable plunger operatively associated with each counter, a pivoted frame, a plurality of normally retracted frame, means associated with each key to ad- Vance one of said pins upon depression of the key to a position of registry with the plunger corresponding to the same key, and means effective upon each ticket issuing operation of the machine to swing said pivoted frame to operate the selected counter.

2. In a ticket printing machine comprising a plurality of depressible keys for selecting type characters to be printed, counters for registering the number of tickets printed for each key and means for selectively actuating said counters comprising, a reciprocable plunger operatively associated with each counter, a pivoted frame, a plurality of normally retracted pins on said frame, a stem for each key having a wedge shaped portion engageable with to advance one of said pins upon depression of the key to a position of registry With the plunger corresponding to the same key, and means effective upon each ticket issuing operation of th machine to swing said pivoted frame to operate the selected counter.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,486,438 Julius Mar. 11, 1924 1,490,620 Marsh Apr. 15, 1924 2,335,122 Julius Nov. 23, 1943 2,378,708 Keen June 19, 1945 2,527,996 Handley Oct. 31, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 478,756 Germany July 1, 1929 pins on said 

